Bttilding structure



Jan. 3, 1933. VA. 0. MITCHELL 1,893,480

BUILDING STRUCTURE Qriginal Filed April 30, 1930 INVENTOR ATTORNEYPatented Jan. 3, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT FFHCE ALVAN C. MITCHELL, 013DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FENWICK A V MACDANIEL, OFDETROIT, MICHIGAN BUILDING STRUCTURE Application filed April 30, 1930,Serial No. 448,706. Renewed April 8, 1932.

This invention relates to building structure.

This invention is particularly appl cable to the partition type ofbuilding which 1s readily assembled and disassembled. In this type ofbuilding it is common to prov de a suitable sheet material coatlngtherefor either or both on the outside and/or on the inside. It is theobject of this invention to provide a novel securing means for the sheetmaterial coating for this type of structure which securing means willpermit the ready assembly to and disassembly from, the structure of thesheet material coatlng.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevatlon of a building structure showingthe sheet material and the securing means therefor.

Fig. 2 is a. section along the line 22 of Fi 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail of the securing device.

Fig. 4 is a section along the llne 4-4 of Fig 2.

Fig 5 is a section Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevatlon showing a portion of the wallstructure wlth a mothfied form of the means for securing the spring clipto the inner wall structure.

Fig. 7 is a section through the wall structure shown in Fig. 6.

Referring more particularly to the drawing I have shown a side wall of abuilding structure which may be generally designated 1 which comprisesan inner and outer unit. The side wall structure may have an inner wallunit of any type but preferably the inner wall unit 2 is of brick orstone material which has set therein the angle iron supports 3 which arearranged to support the roof and window easements which are not shownsince they are not a part of this invention. The angle irons 3 aresecured together by any suitable means such as the bolt 4 and 45 the nut5. Although the wall structure preferably has the inner wall unit 2 ofbrick which brick serves as a heat insulator and to make a moresubstantial building it is understood that this inner wall portion ofbrick may be eliminated and the angle iron along the line 5-5 of isupports 3 relied upon solely for supporting the roof and window!easements.

The wall of the building structure is preferably provided on the insideand the outside with a sheet material coating 6 which forms the outerwall unit. This coating sheet material is preferably porcelain coatedsheet metal which comes in sections as shown nicely in Fig. 1.

It is desirable that this sheet metal coating should be readilyassembledto and disassembled from, the wall structure and it is alsodesirable that the coating sheet material should be so secured to thewall portion that it will not be dislocated by the ordinary strains andabuses to which such a wall coating will be subjected in the course ofits usage. Hence, to this end the brick inner wall 2 is provided at theproper intervals adjacent the joint-between each two successive sections6 of porcelain sheet metal coating with openings 7 for the tie rods 8.The tie rod 8 is an elongated U-shaped rod having a central U-curve 9therein to permit passage of the rod by the bolt 4. Each end of the tierod 8 is curved as at 10 (Fig. 5) for purposes hereafter described.

The securing means at each end of the tie rod 8 are identical. Hence,the description will be limited to the securing means at one end of thetie rod 8. At the joint of each two successive sections 6 of theporcelain coated sheet metal coating there is provided a spring clip 11which extends throughout the length of the porcelain coated sections 6.This spring clip 11 at suitable intervals is provided with openings 12which openings receive the hooked ends 10 of the tie rods 8.

Thus the tie rods 8 hold the spring clip members in proper position.

By referring to Fig. 3 it will be noted that the spring clip consists ofthe rounded spring ends 13 which terminate in the square shoulderportions 14. Opposite the square shoulders 14 the spring clip 11 isprovided with the slightly rounded shoulders 15 and the cylindricalsocket portion 16. The. spring clip member 11 is arranged to receivetheT-bar 17 which has the stem portion.18 and head portion 21. The stemportion 18 has ice the slightly rounded shoulders 19 and squareshoulders 20. The portion 21 of the T-bar 17 extending beyond theshoulders 20 is a portion of a true cylinder which has a socketengagement in the socket 16 of the spring clip 11. The porcelain sheetmetal sections 6 are yieldably held between the spring ends 13 of theclip 11 and the head portion 21 of the T-bar 17. The inner face of thehead portion 21 may have a facing 32 of rubber or other suitablematerial to prevent marring of the procelain section 6.

After the inner brick wall 2 has been fabricated with the opening 7 theassembly of the porcelain sheet metal section 6 to the wall issubstantiallyv as follows: I

Tie rods 8 are suitably positioned with the U-portion 9 about the bolts4. Thereafter the, spring clip members 11 are secured to the tie rods 8by passing the curved ends 10 through the openings 12 in the clipmembers. Next the porcelain sheet metal sections are positioned adjacentthe inner brick wall 2 with a sufficient wide joint therebetween topermit the passage of the stem of the T-bar 17 therethrough. The T-bar17 is then snapped into position in the spring clip 11 as shown nicelyin Fig. 3 and yieldably secures the porcelain metal sections 6 betweenthe T-bar 17 and the spring clip ends 13.

Clearance between the wall 2 and the porcelain sheet metal section 6 ispreferably about of an inch. Hence in case pres sure is applied to thesection 6 alone the curved portion 13 of the spring clip 11 will besprung inwardly and will tend to pivot about the square shoulder 20 ofT-bar 17. Since the shoulder 20 extends outwardly from the flat faceportion 22 of the T-bar and since the stem 18 is provided with theshoulder 19 and the spring clip with the square shoulder let there willbe a slight wedging action between that portion of the spring clipbetween the shoulders 14 and 15 and that portion of the stem 18 of theT-bar 17 between the shoulders 19 and 20 since the natural pivotalcenter will be the edge 23 of the square shoulder 20 of the stem portion18 which will cause the shoulder 14 of the spring clip 11 to move atrifle outwardly radially from the pivot point 23 as the spring end 13of the clip is moved inwardly by the pressure exerted on the section 6.Hence, to

disassemble the section 6 itis necessary to exert not only an inwardpressure on the section 6 but also an outward pressure on the T-rod 17which causes the square shoulders 20 to slidably engage the roundedshoulders 15 of the spring clip with a camming action which spreads thespring clip apart which assists in releasing the engagement betweenshoulders 14 and 19 to in turn release the cylindrical portion 21 of theT-bar from the socket portion 16.

In Figs. 6 andv 7 I have shown a modified form of my wall structure. Inthis form I propose to use the same outer wall structure including thesheet material, spring clip and T-bar. Instead of using the angle iron 3for the inner wall structure I propose to use the vertically positionedC-channel bars 30 which enclose the H-bar 31a. The C-channel bars aresecured together by the bolts 32a. The C-channel bars are bounded oneach side by the inner wall unit 33 which may be made of any suitablebrick or stone material. The spring clip 11 is secured to the inner wallunit by means of the continuous strand of wire 3% which is passedupwardly through the spring clip 11 and projected through suitableopenings at various intervals. along the spring clip and through theC-channel bars into the initially plastic stone material 33 as at 35.The wire is then doubled back upon itself and again passed through theC-channel bar and the spring clip and then passed upwardly through thespring clip and again outwardly through the channel bars into theplastic stone wall material. Thus by passing a continuous strand of wireupwardly through the spring clip, outwardly through the suitableopenings in the spring-clip and channel bars, into the stone materialand then re-doubling the wire upon itself and again passing it throughthe channel bars and spring clip, the sprmg clip is firmly secured inposition to the inner wall unit as soon as the plastic stone wallmaterial sets. As the wire is passed upwardly and outwardly through thespring clip, it can be alternated so that it will project into the stonematerial of the wall on each side of the spring clip as is nicelybrought out in Figs. 5 and 7.

It is evident from the above description that I have produced a novelmeans for securing sheet material sections to a Wall that areessentially characterized in that they permit the ready assembly anddisassembly of the sections to. the wall by a spring clip action and yetat the sametime have suflicient locking action to prevent dislocation ofthe sections from the wall by the ordinary forces and abuses to whichsuch sheet material sections will be subjected during their normal use.

What I claim is:

1. In a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and anouter wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, a spring clip and a T-bar, the said spring clip and T-bar beingsubstantially co-extensive with the joint formed by said sections ofsheet material whereby the sections are yieldably held between the T-barand the spring; clip, and. tiemeans removably securing the spring cliptothe inner. wall section whereby the-outer'wall is secured to the innerWall.

2. In. a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and an.outer wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, a T-bar having a stem portion proj ecting through the oint and ahead portion for engaging the abutting sections adjacent the oint, andmeans including a spring clip for removably securing the said outer wallunit to the inner wall unit, the said spring clip engaging the sectionsadjacent the joint on the face opposite to that engaged by the head ofthe Tbar.

3. In a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and anouter wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, the said outer wall unit being spaced from the inner wall unit,resilient means removably secured to the inner Wall unit, and securingmeans arranged to be yieldably held by the said resilient means, thesaid resilient means and the securing means engaging the sections toremovably secure the same to the inner wall unit whereby the sectionscan be removed by inward pressure applied to the said sections and atthe same time by outward pressure applied to the securing means.

4. In a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and anouter wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, a spring clip arranged to be removably secured to the inner wallunit and having a plurality of shoulders, a securing member having aplurality of complementary shoulders arran es to engage the said springclip to removably secure the outer wall unit to the inner wall unit, thecomplemental shoulders of the spring clip and the securing member beingsuch that inward pressure on the outer wall section tends to increasethe looking engagement between the spring clip and the locking member.

5. In a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and anouter wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, spring means removably secured to the inner wall section, and asecuring member arranged to engage the sections adjacent the said jointthroughout the length of the joint and to removably engage the saidspring clip whereby the joint is closed and the outer wall unitremovably secured to the inner wall unit.

6. In a wall structure of the type having an inner wall unit and anouter wall unit comprising sections of sheet material which form ajoint, a spring clip member removably secured to the inner wall unitsubstantially V- shaped in cross section and having flared ends whichyieldably engage the abutting sections adjacent the oint, the said cliphaving a pair of rounded shoulders and a pair of square shoulders, aT-bar having a head arranged to engage the sections adjacent the saidjoint and a stem provided with a plurality of square shoulders wherebyinward movement of the T-bar is prevented by one of its square shouldersabutting a square shoulder of the spring clip and whereby outwardpressure on the T-bar causes another of its square shoulders to engage arounded shoulder of the spring clip with a camming action which tends toopen the same to release the T-bar therefrom.

7. In a wall structure of the type having an inner unit and an outerunit comprising sections of sheet material which form a joint, a T-barhaving a stem portion projecting through the joint and a head portionfor engaging the abutting sections adjacent the joint, on the faceopposite to that engaged by the head of the T-bar, and a continuousstrand of Wire for securing the said spring clip to the inner wall unit.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALVAN G. MITCHELL.

